Legacy of Silence: Encounters with Children of the Third Reich (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Legacy of Silence is a moving and upsetting document about family life in the Third Reich and its repercussions in contemporary Germany. Between August 1985 and October 1987, Israeli psychologist Bar-On traveled to Germany on four occasions to speak with men and women whose fathers had served in the Nazi elite. His book records 13 from over 50 such meetings. The voice of the author remains audible throughout the text, questioning, probing, commenting, and ever pointing out ambivalences. This quality of a dialogue--external and internal--distinguishes Legacies of Silence from a recent book with a similar theme, Peter Sichrovsky's Born Guilty: Children of Nazi Families ( LJ 1/88). Essential for most libraries.
- Ulrike S. Rettig, Wellesley Coll., Mass.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Legacy of Silence" is a record of Bar-On's interviews with the (now adult) children of men who ranged from minor functionaries of the Holocaust to serious mass-murderers...This account probably comes as close to total honesty as it is humanly possible to achieve. And such is [Bar-On's] skill as an interviewer that one feels his partners in dialogue have likewise reached the limits of bearable insight into the mentality of their elders. -- John C. Marshall "Nature"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (September 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674521862
• ISBN-13: 978-0674521865
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 4.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #489,067 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How this book helped me., August 15, 1999

By A Customer

I thought "Legacy of Silence" was a well written book with countless amounts of information. I read it after it was recommended by a Holocaust researcher, while I was doing a report on the Holocaust for school. During the course of my research I read several books and interviewed a Holocaust survivor. "Legacy of Silence" was without question the most helpful of the books I read. "Legacy of Silence" gives the reader a unique insight to the personal lives of Nazi leaders and the inablility of their children to cope with their parents crimes. On many of the book's stories the children seem to recall almost pleasantly the activities of their parents. In my opinion it shows how, while the children of Holocaust survivors actively attempt to understand what their parents went through, the children of the perpetraters try to avoid dealing with their parents sins. I read "Legacy of Silence" shortly after my interview with a survivor. That interview along with "Legacy of Silence" and many other pieces of information have caused me to educate myself on the Holocaust even now that my paper has long since been completed. As a younger American I am trying to understand what happened during that horrible period of human history. If you are like me and want to learn more than what is in the Encyclopedia. Then I encourage you to read "Legacy of Silence".